Stay Gold
by Princess Pinky
Summary: After five months without Ricky in her life, Adrian is surprised to find Ricky standing at her front door one night complete with a stroller at his side, claiming all he wants to do is talk.


**A/N:** To fully understand this story, it would be best if you have read _The Outsiders_, by S.E. Hinton. If you haven't, the good news is that you can still Google Robert Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay," since the "stay gold" line in _The Outsiders_ is based off of that poem. Also, in case you're not a member of FanForum, you should probably know that the shipper name given to the Radrian ship there is none other than…The Outsiders. Please enjoy!

_**Stay Gold**_

Three light knocks prompted Adrian to look up from the crinkled and dog eared pages of an old book titled, _The Outsiders_. She narrowed her eyes at the door and then leaned over to check the time on her cell phone. 6:30 P.M. She glanced up at the door again; she wasn't expecting company.

Another knock came. Adrian shrugged, slid out of her chair, and wandered over to the door. When she pulled it open, she was surprised to find Ricky Underwood outside, his hand resting on the blue stroller beside him.

"Adrian!"

A vibration tickled in her chest, just below her ribs. As it crawled its way up, she grasped the doorframe for support. She registered his confused just before she began to laugh. "Please," she wheezed between breaths, "please tell me you're not here to have sex with me while your baby is waiting in the wings."

Ricky glared. "I'm not here to have sex with you."

Adrian pressed her hand to her chest as she stopped laughing. Her cheeks had grown rosy from the exertion. "You're not?"

"No! I'm not that inconsiderate."

She snorted. "I wouldn't be so sure of that."

"You don't know me," he bit back.

The smirk drained from Adrian's face. "Okay," she folded one arm under the other, "then what are you here for?"

Ricky shrugged. "I wanted to talk."

"Talk?" Adrian's eyes glinted in the hall light. "Since when has Ricky Underwood ever wanted to talk?"

"Look," he sighed, "are you going to let me in or should we go?"

Adrian's brown eyes flicked to the stroller, but the shade was down. "Fine," she yawned, "whatever." She pushed the door open and stepped aside, allowing Ricky more than enough room to push the stroller through. She watched him briefly as he moved the stroller towards the couch, then she turned to shut the door.

"So…how've you been?"

Adrian looked over her shoulder with a blinking expression. "What?"

"How have you been?" he repeated, now seated on the corner of the couch with the stroller positioned at his side.

"Uh," she clicked the lock on the door. "Fine…" she sauntered over to the couch and sat down, careful to make sure there was a considerable space between them, enough for at least two people. "You?"

Ricky rubbed his eyes. "Tired…" he motioned lazily to the stroller, "he has insomnia issues and they sure don't come from me."

Adrian smirked. "I guess that would depend on who you talk to." She winced under the glare she earned. "Well, it's true, like it or not." She folded her hands into her lap. "So really, why did you come over?"

"Just to talk! What's so hard to understand about that?"

"You never want to 'just talk.' You've never been like that."

"Yeah, well you don't know me."

"I do too-"

"I'm not the same guy you dated a year ago, Adrian. We haven't even spoken in five months. You don't know me."

"Alright," she said softly. "Then let's get reacquainted." She held out her hand in a defiant gesture. "I'm Adrian Lee, who are you?"

Ricky narrowed his eyes. Something glittered in them, a familiar spark from a long time ago. He took her hand. "Ricky," he spoke softly, "Ricky Underwood. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Adrian pursed her lips.

"So I've heard you go to Montgomery now. How's that?"

"Good." She smiled softly. "Better, I think. Gave me a chance to start over."

"That's always nice."

"How about you?" she questioned, motioning her head towards the stroller. "What have you been up to?" Ricky unzipped the shade, revealing a sleeping baby boy and Adrian couldn't help but chuckle. "He looks nothing like you."

"Thanks," he replied monotonously. "I know. I've spent four months trying to find something of me somewhere in there, but he seems to be all Juergens." He rubbed his fingers over the baby's nest of light red hair. "He's got Anne's hair and Amy's pudgy little baby face and even George's nose." He shrugged. "Maybe it's a good thing, that he didn't get anything from me."

"That's not true, I'm sure he inherited _something_." Adrian rolled her eyes. "Maybe you just have to wait until he's sixteen to find out?" When he didn't laugh, she tossed up her hands defensively. "Sorry, bad joke." She ran her hand through her hair. "So where's Amy? Just out of curiosity…"

"On a date, with Ben. That's why I have him tonight. Usually we trade off week to week and it's her week, but-"

"Ben? I thought…well last I heard, you and Amy-"

"We tried," she sighed. "It didn't work. We weren't really compatible, you know? Besides, her heart's always been with Ben, not me. I just got to her first, that's all."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's okay, I'm fine with it. What happened, everything that happened, I wouldn't trade a second of it. It's all made me a better person. Amy and I…we were destined to create him and I'm okay with that."

Amazement reflected in her eyes. "So," she said slowly, "do you have anyone else then?"

"No. I've just been focusing on me and my son for now." He gently tickled his son's pudgy chin and the baby cooed in his sleep, but didn't awaken. "What about you?" he asked, turning to face her. "How're things with Max?"

Adrian looked down at her lap, nodding to herself. "Good. He's…good. Very good to me."

"Good." He smiled genuinely. "You deserve that and a whole lot more…especially after everything I put you through."

"You really have changed, haven't you?"

"I'd like to think so." Promptly, a whimper sounded from the stroller and Ricky's head whipped attentively in the direction of his son. "Hey there," he cooed, "finally waking up, huh?" He pitched forward and began to un-strap the little redhead from his stroller. "It's okay," he soothed over the sound of the boy's whimpers. "Daddy's got ya."

Adrian couldn't help but smile. A certain fuzziness bloomed in the pit of her stomach. "It's kind of crazy to see you this way."

"Yeah," Ricky murmured, distracted as he leafed through his son's diaper bag. "It's surreal." He pulled out an empty bottle and a canister of formula. "Hey, do you mind if I use your sink?"

Adrian laughed and motioned her hand towards the kitchen. "Help yourself."

Ricky heaved himself up from the couch and carried his son towards the kitchen. As he passed the table, his eyes caught the faded cover of _The Outsiders_. "Hey, I didn't know you liked that book."

"_The Outsiders_? Are you kidding? It's one of my all time favorites! It's a classic, you know. S.E. Hinton is a genius!" Her cheeks flushed excitedly. "I'm re-reading it for this extra credit project in my English class."

"Looks like you've re-read it more than a couple times," he commented as he turned on the water and began to fill his son's bottle.

"Fifty." She tilted her head to the side as she watched her ex measure the powder infant formula into the bottle. "Have you read it?"

"It's uh…one of my favorites too, believe it or not." Ricky pressed his thumb over the bottle's nipple and began to shake it. "I guess I always kind of related with Dallas to an extent."

"Yeah," Adrian nodded. "I can't help but tear up every time I read his death. He was somethin' else."

Ricky set the bottle in the microwave and turned it on while simultaneously bouncing his son to keep his whimpering at a bearable murmur. "Shh."

"You look like such a natural."

He laughed, bringing back rare gems of memories. "Thanks. I guess that comes with finding something you're finally good at."

"That's not all you're good at."

"True," he agreed. "I'm good at three things: treating women like revolving doors, making babies, and taking care of them. I don't do the former two anymore though."

"And the drums." She looked away. "Sometimes I used to listen as I waited outside the band room for you. It always made me think of thunder during a rainstorm." She rolled her eyes, laughing at herself. "I used to imagine dancing in the rain to the sound…"

The microwave beeped and Ricky pulled out the bottle. He seemed a little distracted, looking at her. "Really?"

"Oh God," she held up her hand, "I know what you're gonna say. How corny is that, right? Just…just forget I mentioned it."

A smiled perked along is lips. Even on her olive cheeks in the dim light, he could still see the flush of her embarrassment. "Maybe Old Ricky would have," he squirted some of the formula onto his wrist, "but that's not what _I_ think." He wiped his wrist with a napkin and carried his son back over to the couch where he sat down next to Adrian, this time in the space she'd used to distance them. He positioned his son in his arms and slid the bottle into the boy's mouth. "I appreciate it. I never knew anyone cared. I always just used the drums to release my own pent up feelings when I couldn't have sex."

"I know. I could hear it: the fury, the passion, the confusion…I liked to imagine that I knew you better after listening to one of your practice sessions. It was everything I always wanted to see on your face suddenly reverberating in my eardrums."

Ricky watched his smile reflected in her mahogany eyes. "I guess you knew me better than I thought you did."

Adrian snorted a laugh. "I guess that's something I'd like to think was true. I used to think a lot about that, actually…but you never seemed to notice. It was always Amy or Grace or-or some of flavor of the moment. I didn't think any of them got you the way I did though." She shrugged her shoulders as she leaned into the couch cushion. "But then again, doesn't any girl with a crush always think so?"

Ricky's jaw hardened, as if he were concentrating on something. He nodded. "For what it's worth, I think you did. You weren't just some girl with a crush, Adrian." His eyes returned to the top of his son's fuzzy red head. "Too bad I was too angry with the world to notice. You know what they say about retrospect." His eyes followed his son's tiny hand as it moved through the air and grasped onto Ricky's finger as he held the bottom. A golden smile gleamed on his lips.

Adrian's lips parted, formed an "O," and then retracted into a smile so wide that it rivaled the Cheshire Cat's. "That's it!"

"What?" Ricky looked up, confused, yet the smile remained on his face when he saw hers.

"_That!"_ Adrian pointed at the baby. "Look at him, that's what he got from you. Your smile! That's all you, Ricky." She laughed airily as Ricky twisted around to try and see his son's face.

Much to Ricky's surprise, a stream of milk was running down the boy's chubby chin as he grinned his father's grin. "Why you little turkey!" Ricky snatched up a burp cloth and wiped away the fallen milk as he took away the bottle. "How come I've never noticed that before?"

The baby merely lifted his light red eyebrows and cooed.

"I can't believe it," Adrian mused. "I think he must have all of your facial expressions. That eyebrow thing, that is so you too. You seriously never noticed this?"

Ricky shook his head. "No. I guess I was too busy looking for the obvious."

"_Oh please!"_ She rolled her eyes. "He's your son, did you really think he'd be obvious about anything?"

"You do have a point," Ricky grinned, raising his eyebrows to mimic his son's. He held the baby up to his face. "Are you your Daddy's Boy?" The boy giggled and grinned, spreading his lips wide to reveal his pink gums. Ricky laughed and kissed his son's forehead. "Thank you," he said, settling the child back into his lap while he looked at Adrian. "I may not have noticed without you. I'm really glad I decided to come over tonight."

"Me too."

Ricky gently lifted his son's arm into the air. He feigned a surprised gasp. "Oh look, I guess he agrees with us." The baby wriggled his hand free of Ricky's grasp and reached out towards Adrian. Ricky looked surprised.

"I guess so," Adrian agreed, clearly amused.

"I think he likes you."

"Haha."

"No, really. He usually isn't a people person." He shrugged. "Another thing he gets from Amy…but…Hey," something dawned in his eyes, "do you want to hold him?"

"Me?" Adrian gestured rhetorically to herself. "Oh no, I don't know." She thrust out her hands. "I don't think so, babies-"

"Come on." Ricky lifted his son up. His voice sounded like two pieces of silk rubbing together, soft and just a tad crispy. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"I could drop him."

"But you won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because I _know_ you…or at least I know you well enough to know that."

Adrian sighed. "Fine, but I'm just saying right now that I'm not liable if something happens to him." She awkwardly accepted the child into her arms and set him into her lap. Her eyes seemed transfixed on him, forgetting all about Ricky momentarily as the baby wrapped his fist around her finger. She smiled. "Oh my…"

"Told you," Ricky responded in his classic smugness. He ignored the annoyed look in her eyes when she lifted them. He strummed his fingers along the back cushion of the couch. "What do you say to a bedtime story?"

"A bedtime story?" Her voice was skeptical. "I swear if you suggest _Goodnight Moon_-"

"Definitely not." He jumped off the couch and snagged the tattered book from the kitchen table. "I was thinking something a little more adult."

"For a baby?"

"He's my son," he shrugged.

Adrian nodded and pulled her legs up onto couch, readjusting her position to make herself and the baby more comfortable. "You're reading, right?"

"Sure." Ricky carefully peeled open the first page and leaned back into the crook of the couch, looking as comfortable as a cat curled up by a warm fireplace. _"'When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind…'"_

It wasn't until several hours later, when Ricky's voice finally lulled to a stop and he closed the last page, did he finally look up and realize that both Adrian and his son had drifted off to sleep. He looked down at his watch. 10:03 P.M. He scooted off the couch and set the book onto the coffee table.

"Looks like we should be getting home," he murmured as he leaned in to scoop up his son from Adrian's arms. The baby made a soft sound, like a kitten's mewl, but didn't awaken and neither did Adrian. He carefully adjusted his son into his stroller and zipped the shade, then he turned his attention back to his ex. "Adrian?" He paused, examining her as she lay curled up on the couch with her hair in a lovely black wreath around her head. He snatched up a purple fleece blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over her. He smiled briefly and he leaned his face close to her ear. _"Stay gold, Adrian."_ He hesitated, but with a quick breath, he pressed his lips to her cheek. In the next moment, he was pushing his son's stroller out the front door.

When the harmony of stroller wheels and his footsteps had faded down the hallway, a round tear rolled smoothly down Adrian's cheek. Her fingers slid out from under the blanket and moved to the place where Ricky's lips had touched her face. She opened her eyes, staring longingly at the door. Her lips parted and a cracked voice trickled between them: _"Stay gold, Ricky."_


End file.
